13 Quotes by Toni Maguire

We were young, she continued, while she had a bad heart. Did we not want to earn our tips, she asked us and, cowed, we refrained from introducing the subject again.Her bad heart, I noticed, did not force her to abstain from smoking, or from eating large portions of puddings. Every time I heard her opening how she could not carry anything heavy, I thought sourly "except yourself".

I remember the pain I felt, and wonder why a man who was such an accomplished liar had to tell the truth that day.

A terrible sadness threatened to overwhelm me as I wondered how two people capable of such love for each other had eventually felt so little for the child they had produced between them.

Antoinette, tu vas sûrement trouver que la vie est injuste, comme tu as déjà pu t'en rendre compte. Les gens vont t'accuser, ils l'ont d'ailleurs déjà fait. Mais écoute-moi bien. J'ai lu les rapports de police. J'ai vu ton dossier médical. Je sais exactement ce que tu as subi, et je t'assure que rien de tout cela n'est de ta faute. Tu n'as pas à avoir honte.

Don’t tell Mummy,′ he said, giving me a slight shake. ‘This is our secret, Antoinette, do you hear me?

She thought she must be ill, though she had no idea what was wrong with her. All she knew was that the world had become a frightening place.

The smile on his lips was always the smile of the nice father, but in his eyes I could see the nasty one, the one invisible to everyone else, the one that lived inside his head.

Inside our heads there is a space which is completely blank. It holds no memories and has no thoughts. Antoinette wanted to find that place for once there, the world no longer has the power to hurt. She wanted to curl up in the cocoon of her bedding until that time came and never have to face reality again.

The sense of security which she thought she had found disappeared; the bottom fell out of her world and she felt herself falling into an abyss of unbelieving despair.